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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Number 1323: Love is a crime

Can a girl from a slum with no prospects for the future find a better life? Can a girl without a father, who knows nothing of men, find happiness with a man who brings her along on a jewelry store robbery? Can a girl meet a hunky parole officer and find true love? Can I stop asking stupid questions?

This is day three of Pappy’s Crime Wave week. For more information visit the past two postings.

Poor Dotty. She is stuck in town in summer. As she so vividly narrates, “. . . the damp tongue of August licked the slum in which I lived!” So she takes up with Nicky, the local bad boy, and he leads her into trouble. Sometimes love comics like this, from Darling Love #1 (1949), could also be crime comics. Simon and Kirby were especially good at stories like this. “I Was Branded Bad” isn’t S&K. but it’s not bad, either. It just looks a bit generic to me. The artist is unidentified, but the publisher is actually Archie Comics, with a bit of distance between itself and the teenage books.

Because it’s a love comic, you know things will turn out well for Dotty, and she will find true love. There’s something for you to love, also. On the last page there’s a recipe for fudge!